Breathe
by gryffindortrekkie13
Summary: Alex Rider oneshot involving a high speed car crash action afterwards
1. Chapter 1

Alex was flattening the gas pedal as he raced into the semi filled street. He looked into his rear view mirror, he saw Ben's GT tailing him closely. He focused again on the road ahead, cars swerved out of his way as his engine roared. There was the sound of car horns and screeching tires.

Alex gritted his teeth and prepared to speed across a busy intersection.

At the last moment he turned his head and saw a black suburban heading right for him. The suburban slammed into the car.

Alex's head hit the dashboard and glass exploded all around him. His head hit the window and Alex felt something warm run down his face.

His left arm and leg were jammed against the battered driver door, pain was spreading throughout his entire body. The suburban hadn't stopped and the other side of the car was pummeled by oncoming traffic.

The seat belt was cutting sharply into Alex's chest and sharp pieces of metal were flying all around. He put his arms up around his head in an attempt to protect it. The suburban backed up, its front destroyed. Alex's car was sitting in the middle of the street, there was the sound of police sirens and the suburban sped away.

Alex felt a wave of fresh, intense pain overcome his body. He was on the brink of passing out and he groaned. He looked up and saw people walking over horror on their faces.

He rested his head back on the seat, he tried to move but the seat belt was restraining him. He looked down, trying to raise a shaking hand to take his seat off.

He stopped however, when he saw the piece of metal sticking out of his right shoulder. His breath caught in his throat and he felt a wave of nausea rise up, his stomach churning. He tried to pull it out but it was stuck in.

His eyes were burning and it was getting harder to see. He touched his forehead with a trembling hand, it came away bloody and Alex closed his eyes.

His head was pounding and each beat sent harsh pain throughout his skull. Slowly he unclasped the seat belt and gasped the pressure on his chest on abdomen was released.

Carefully he moved his shoulder in a circle and almost blacked out because of the pain. Bracing himself he reached across and opened the car door. He moaned as his pinned arm and leg were released.

Alex looked down at his left side and it took a while to register. His leg was obviously broken down by the shin, everything was covering in blood and with panic he realized that he couldn't move either.

He groaned again and gasped on the thick blood dripping from his head.

Numbness was spreading through his chest, his vision was getting blurry around the edges and black dots were dancing around his gaze. Using all of his remaining strength he lifted his battered leg out of the car and shifted out.

It was very hard to balance, on one leg and he was sort of shuffling along. His whole body was on fire. Smoke burned his eyes and the smell of gasoline was everywhere.

It was getting harder and harder to see and the world suddenly seemed very off.

One moment he was looking at his wrecked car and the next his head and body had hit the floor. He didn't know how it happened and how it had happened so fast but the ringing in his head had intensified from the blow.

The uneven asphalt was pressing uncomfortably into his back and the sky's gray color seemed to be fading of color.

A shadow appeared over him and Alex breathed out weakly, trying to make out what it was. He knew before getting into this gig that driving fast cars was a risky business.

Alex's mind kept replaying scenes from the past few days. It was like sometimes at night when you couldn't get to sleep because your brain kept getting stuck in the same track over and over again.

The road was hot and stifling and the air didn't seem to be getting into his lungs.

Alex wasn't quite sure he felt any pain anymore. He felt very weird all of a sudden. The world was quiet. He dimly registered the faded red colors flashing in the corner of his remaining vision but he couldn't do anything besides lay there.

The sky seemed to get closer as some type of unseen force lifted him from the ground and onto a softer surface. Things were happening very slowly and then suddenly the sky was gone.

The real gray sky was gone replaced by a metallic gray surface which made Alex feel suddenly very claustrophobic and enclosed.

He felt himself frown and things suddenly felt very very very wrong. There seemed to be a lot of swirling colors surrounding him in his field of vision. They made him feel almost on the edge of panic, threatening to pull him out of his peaceful daze. Things were escalating, there were flurries of motion that were getting more and more into focus and the ringing in his ears was intensifying, becoming almost intolerable.

And then, at the climax of it all a single broke through to Alex.  
"Breathe!"

It was like a switch had been thrown inside Alex. His body heaved and fought for breath. Suddenly everything was killing him. He was insatiable, uncontrollable, savage and he couldn't control himself, the pain was too unbearable.

There was too much sound, too much motion, too many colors and too much hurting. He felt his eyes grow wide and he felt his lungs strain and his felt his heart burn before the darkness overtook him in a whirlwind and cacophony of pain, sound and fear.

Ben Daniels watched the scene with growing despair. He hadn't seen the suburban that had crashed into Alex.

It was his job, he should have been watching. Alex had been t-boned ferociously and now he was dying on an ambulance stretcher. He looked awful. His leg and entire left side had been battered and destroyed. He had a piece of metal sticking out of his shoulder and there was thick blood running down his face.

He looked dead on the stretcher and Ben would have thought he was if it were not for Alex's eyes watching him blearily. Alex was still alive, somehow.

Ben fought his way into the ambulance as it prepared to leave. He watched as Alex's body began to break down. He watched the scene with growing anguish and fear. He couldn't lose Alex, not again.

"Breathe, Alex" He whispered under his breath.

To be continued….


	2. Chapter 2

Ben couldn't stand waiting. Waiting was the world part of his job. The atmosphere of waiting rooms never helped either.

They were white and clean and full of artificial lighting and when people with raging headaches and pounding hearts, like Ben, the lights could be nothing short of torture. It had been a few hours since the crash but Ben's heart hadn't stilled a beat and the hospital waiting room seemed like hell on Earth.

Absentmindedly he thrummed his fingers on his knees and darted his gaze around the room anxiously. Waiting really sucked, especially when it was one of your most trusted friends barely hanging onto his life.

Unfortunately Ben had been through many of these situations before and it never got any easier. Everytime he ended up here, however, it got worse. Alex had a death wish and Ben was stuck along for the ride.

This time it hadn't been Alex's fault, they had been working together on a joint mission involving getaway drivers and high scale robberies around the London area. Ben had always been a skilled driver but he had been pleasantly surprised at Alex's talent and intuition even though he had learned over time to never underestimate the kid.

Alex was young, too young to have done any of the things he'd done but he was immensely skilled nonetheless and had taken up the fast driving car job quickly and efficiently.

It had been standard, nothing out of the ordinary when they had taken a sprint through an intersection in the heavy populated London area.

Ben should have been watching for anything out of the ordinary but he hadn't been able to see the big black suburban that had slammed into Alex's GT as he had sped across the slow moving cars.

Ben's mind flashed back to the horrible sound of splinching metal and carbon and the ear-splitting screech of tires. Ben couldn't get the image of the wrecked sports car and Alex's limp body lying on the asphalt out of his mind.

The images kept flashing over and over in his mind and he had to wrap his fingers around the handles of the seat to stop the shaking.

Alex couldn't die, not now, not after everything he had made it through. Alex didn't deserve this kind of life and it was up to Ben to help the kid stay human throughout the manipulations and politics of MI6 and the British government.

It was too loud in the waiting room, the sounds of machines beeping and the whirring of the air-conditioning both pressing into Ben's skull uncomfortably.

He had always hated busy places and he watched the other individuals through narrowed, pained eyes. Alex could still be in danger. Alex had been targeted and the person or group trying to kill him could still be on his tail. They could even be here.

Ben felt his heart jolt in his chest and felt the sweat drip down his face. It wasn't hot in the waiting room, it was actually very chilly so the sweat was an anxious and nervous reaction.

"Ben Daniels?" said a voice and Ben jerked up in his seat, that was his name.

He stood and walked over, his eyes meeting the grim eyes of the professional looking doctor. Ben scanned the man and assured himself that Alex was still alive because the man, while looking grim and tired, still maintained the posture of someone in control and someone with not terrible news to give.

"Yeah that's me."

"Alex Rider's guardian?"

Ben knew the look the doctor was sending him. Ben didn't look old enough to be any sort of guardian and Alex, almost 18, looked old enough to be an adult. Most people who saw them together saw brothers, or friends, not a kid with his guardian.

"Yeah. Is he okay? How's he doing?" Ben couldn't help the anxiety and desperation from seeping into his voice.

The doctor sighed, "He's doing okay. He was pretty banged up from the accident. We had to operate on him and he's not breathing on his own at the moment but now that he's in the ICU he should be fine. We'd like to keep him here to watch for infection and to keep monitoring him."

Ben nodded and wiped a hand across his forehand. "Can I see him?"

"Of course. Follow me."

Ben followed the doctor through heavy swinging doors and the white hallway stretched away in front of him. The fluorescent lights hurt his eyes and the sound that their shoes made on the shiny white floor hurt his brain like tiny pricks.

Alex's room was glaringly white, and Ben struggled to catch up to the scene. It was so drastically different from the last time Ben had seen Alex, on the road when the colors were a mix of dark gray, red and black. Alex now rested in a room that was full of white and metallic gray.

Ben halted in the doorway, Alex looked awful. His blond hair, cut short and military style still had traced of blood red color in it and his eyes were closed but there were prominent dark gray eye bags underneath the closed lids.

There was a butterfly bandage on the left side of his forehead where a deep red cut was being held together. It disfigured his face and made him look old.

His chest was bare and there was a cluster of bandages around a shoulder. His entire left leg was suspended and covered in a thick cast.

There were wires and tubes sticking out of him, making his entire body look smaller than it was. Alex had changed a lot since his first few days of Brecon Beacons, when Ben had first met him. The old Alex had long fair hair that hung above his hard, dark brown eyes. Alex had been tall and athletic for his age and had a distinctly bad boy edge around his persona.

Alex had been through a lot since then and now at the age of 17 he had grown into a tall, strong, lean fighting machine. His hair was cut short since he had long since realized that it made him very recognizable and that it often got in the way of his sight.

Alex's eyes had remained the same color but the depths behind the brown had only gotten deeper. Ben knew that Alex had secrets, secrets about things that had happened to him that he wouldn't share with anybody, not even his most trusted friend, Ben.

Ben walked closer, his throat tight. He had seen Alex looking close to death many times in the last few years but it never got any easier.

Ben and Wolf and the others always used to joke that Alex had a death wish and that he was lucky to have the angel of death on his side.

Ben sat himself down in the seat by the bed and found Alex's hand without saying a word. He was scared that if he tried to say anything his throat would just give out and he would never be able to speak again.

"Alex. I'm here. It's Ben." He tried so hard to sound reassuring and confident but he knew that he just wasn't delivering a good, confident performance. Alex didn't stir.

"How long do you think it will be until he wakes up?" Ben asked the doctor.

"It's hard to tell…" The doctor consulted his clipboard, "It could be any minute, could be a few hours, could even be days."

Alex's mouth was partially covered by the breathing mask and Ben could see the kid's chest rising and falling gently.

Ben couldn't help the relief that washed over him. He knew that Alex wasn't out of the woods yet but hopefully from now on he would be okay, he would get better.

Ben sighed and nodded tiredly at the doctor.

"I'll leave you guys you to it, I'll be back to check again in a bit and if you need anything just call a nurse or just yell for me." The doctor said to Ben as he pushed open the door again.

Ben managed to shoot him a grateful smile before turning his attention back to Alex.

"Alex," He murmured softly, "What am I going to do with you?"

Ben felt as if the world was weighing him down very roughly all of sudden. He was grateful of the quiet of the private room and he closed his eyes briefly and breathed in deeply.

The air smelled like antiseptic and linen and since Ben had been personally acquainted with these sort of smells on various occasions beforehand they brought back painful memories.

He tried to ignore the smell and focused instead on the beating on his heart in his chest.

At least Alex was safe, at least he was alive and breathing.

His mind shot back to the moment in the ambulance when the EMT had yelled at Alex to breathe and he was grateful for that.

His mind flashed again to sickening crunch of the collision and to the sound of screeching tires. He fought the urge to press his hands over his ears, to shut the noise out, to stop the quiet from leaving him, to fight the buzzing.

Alex was still in danger, they were still in danger, those men could still be out there.

Ben steeled himself and let himself sink back into the familiarity of his training. He had to be a soldier now, for Alex, he couldn't let this situation get out his hands again.

He wouldn't let someone else surprise them like they had on the street. Ben sat back in the chair, releasing Alex's hand and found the handle of his gun with his fingers.

He propped his feet up on the end of Alex's bed and the dusty black color of his boots contrasted darkly with the white of the sheets.

He lifted his chin and scanned the room. On the wall directly opposite him there was the door and two windows that were covered with blinds.

Ben decided that he was going to stay up until Alex woke up, and that he wouldn't sleep or rest because whoever was after them would most likely still be after them.

Ben couldn't let that happen.

The sound of the machines whirred, and something beeped over and over again and Ben knew that it was Alex's heart monitor. The room was still and quiet except for those sounds and the motion in the room was still except for the steady rise of the two men's chests.

One man was sleeping, on the edge of death and the other was alive but exhausted but they were alright, for now.

To be continued...


	3. Chapter 3

Alex's sixth sense had always been a bit peculiar. The slight awareness always manifested itself in subtle ways, the hair on Alex's neck would stand up, or he would get this queasy feeling in his stomach that didn't seem to go away. More often than not it came with the feeling that something as wrong, that something wasn't as it should be.

In all of his years, Alex's sixth sense had never once failed him. This time is was the _wrongness_ that woke Alex up from his coma-like slumber.

When he woke up he immediately knew something was off. His head felt as if it was being held down by five ten pound bricks and he almost panicked when his eyes wouldn't open right away. Alex was familiar with this feeling of almost helplessness but he had learned over the years to take it slow and to think about too many things to fast.

He obviously had a concussion of some sort and Alex suddenly realized how hard it was to breathe.

He felt as if he had been by a truck, what the hell had happened to him? His skull pounded but he managed to force his eyes open.

There was a battle going on inside him, one side argued for peace and sleep, for an escape from the pain and the other side was raging to Alex to get up and to get out.

Alex had long since learned to trust his gut so it was instinct now that drove him to awake himself out of his daze.

When his vision cleared he was in an unfamiliar room, a hospital room, he could tell that much by the overly white surroundings.

He maneuvered his head from side to side, straining his eyes to see on either side of him without moving his head too much. The light hurt his eyes and there was a god awful beeping that was seeping into his brain and inhibiting his ability to concentrate.

He had to focus. Focus and concentration was the only that he was going to regain control of the situation.

He saw Ben sitting beside him, slouched in his chair. He was sleeping, albeit uncomfortably, with his neck twisted awkwardly to one side and his feet propped up onto Alex's white sheets. Ben looked exhausted and Alex felt a twinge of guilt since he knew that his friend was so exhausted and tired because of him.

Ben was always following Alex around and while Alex liked him around, he didn't feel so good about some of the stunts that he was prone to do and the effects they could have on the people around him.

Alex wasn't used to people caring about him and he always considered himself someone that could get away with anything.

Apparently he couldn't get away with anything, Alex thought grimly as he glanced down at his body. His left leg from the hip down was entirely encased in white plaster and his chest and right shoulder felt like they had been stabbed with a thousand knives.

The sight of his injuries triggered his memories to come flooding back to him in a whirlwind of sound, colors and pain.

The suburban, the crash, the feel of the asphalt, it all came flooding back and Alex struggled to regain his breath as his chest tightened almost beyond tolerance. Alex knew that if he were to look under the bandages on his chest he would find a seatbelt shaped bruise stretching from his shoulder to his hip.

He thought back to the sight of an ugly piece of metal sticking out of his right shoulder and he felt a hand unconsciously to touch the area where the spike had stood out.

His hands were shaking and he stared at them, trying to still the emotions that had begun to run through him. Alex had to use every ounce of his self control to not succumb to the blackness that was threatening to engulf him.

He lifted his head and glanced to the left, towards the door, and saw two windows with the blinds pulled across them.

Shadows moved vaguely behind the surface and Alex was again reminded of the feeling that woke him up in the first place. The back of his neck prickled.

He tried to take a deep breath in, the air smelled like antiseptic and medicine, a smell that he was very well acquainted with, and he fought against the gagging to bring air into his straining lungs.

He absolutely had to get up, something was definitely wrong.

Alex thought back to the moment of the impact of the crash, he strained his brain to remember a face, to remember anything that might help him understand why his gut was bothering him so much.

He felt the IV pull at the skin on the inside of his wrist and his gritted his teeth. He glanced again at Ben, the soldier who was fast asleep and at any other time Alex might have laughed at the man and he might have teased him but he couldn't find the will to be anything other than serious.

Something was going to happen, he just knew it. Inch by inch, Alex began to pull himself up into a sitting position. His body protested and the darkness fought him but by now Alex was wide awake.

He did a quick scan of his body, out of all of his injuries his leg and his head hurt the worst. He definitely wouldn't be able to move, or walk normally without extreme pain and he was having trouble keeping his thoughts clear.

"Ben." He whispered softly, wincing at the harsh feel of his throat.

How long had he been unconscious? Minutes? Hours? Days? Alex hated feeling uncertain, he hated not knowing what was happening.

Alex had learned through operant conditioning to learn all the available facts and things about his situation, at all times. It was ingrained into Alex's mind, in the way he acted and the way he lived and it was inescapable.

"Ben." He whispered, trying again.

Ben stirred, his face looking weary and lined. Alex reached over with the arm that wasn't attached to the IV and nudged his friend in the arm.

"Alex?!" Murmured Ben blearily before shooting up in his seat like someone had shoved a hot poker up his butt. "Alex!" He said, his face alarmed.

Alex glanced quickly at the door, grimacing almost immediately as pained lanced through his skull.

"Quiet Ben."

Ben looked alarmed and stood up, his eyes taking in Alex's posture and taking in the awareness in Alex's eyes almost immediately.

"Alex's what's wrong?" Ben gripped the handle of his gun in a gesture that Alex knew to be reassuring to him.

"I've got a feeling." Alex said grimly, "A bad feeling."

Ben frowned. Alex knew that Ben trusted him with his life and there was not an ounce of doubt in Alex that Ben believed him, believed in his gut.

Alex felt unnervingly shaky and it scared him. He knew adrenaline would kick in soon but for now he almost couldn't function between the feelings of panic and unsettlement that were beginning to rise in his chest.

"I gotta get up." Alex hissed at Ben through clenched teeth.

His leg was throbbing painfully and black spots were dancing across his vision the longer he sat upright.

"Alex. No." Ben's voice was firm but Alex shook his head.

"You don't understand Ben. Something's _wrong_."

"I know Alex." said Ben, peering out through the blinds. "But you are in no condition to get up right now."

Alex ignored him and began to swing his legs off the bed when he heard voices grow in strength directly outside his door.

There was the sound of heavy footsteps and he froze in his tracks, Ben frozen in the doorway. Alex looked at Ben with wide, determined eyes and Ben nodded back at him, his gaze calm but fierce.

After a few moments, the voices still indistinguishable, rose to an even higher volume and Ben raised two fingers in the universal gesture of two, meaning that there were most likely two men outside the door.

Alex desperately wished for his gun, he felt naked without it, it was almost like a missing limb and it made Alex feel very uncomfortable.

The door was jostled and Alex felt his heart rate spike despite himself. The handle jiggled and rose up and down and for a few moments nothing moved.

Alex felt a distinct weariness come over him. This sort of thing was always happening to him and it got old after awhile.

There were thuds and hushed voices from outside before quite suddenly the door blasted inwards.

Ben, luckily had moved to the side and had been saved from the broken wood that had exploded into the room. Two men rushed inside, dressed in normal drab clothes and Ben moved on them like the soldier he was trained to be.

Ben took down the first man in a couple of minutes but in the chaos he had been distracted and the second man managed to daze him with a well-placed kick.

Alex felt a flash of realization, if they had been here to kill them, Alex had been completely defenseless and they could have just shot Ben right away, through the door. They were aiming to capture, not to kill.

Alex wasn't planning on letting any of that happen. He reached out and pressed the alarm button before he was dragged off the bed.

Pain exploded all over his body and his leg screamed in agony as it landed on the floor. Alex gasped for breath and cursed his weakness.

He closed his eyes and curled inwards on himself, to guard against any attacks but none came. After a few moments Alex felt someone shaking his shoulder. He opened his eyes to see Ben leaning down over him concernedly.

Ben's mouth was cut slightly on the bottom lip and his eyes looked vicious.

Alex pressed his hands to his forehead, trying to stop the spinning and his fingers felt something unfamiliar on his skin. It was a deep cut that was held together by bandages, Alex had forgotten about it.

"I'm alright." He whispered, his breath ragged.

"We gotta go." Ben whispered back. He holstered his gun and pulled Alex up by the arms.

To Alex the world swung alarmingly. He tried desperately to regain his footing and to set his sight straight but it was becoming increasingly harder.

"I might need a wheelchair." Alex said reluctantly, cursing his weakness, yet again.

Ben moved quickly and efficiently while Alex remained on the floor. The door was broken beyond repair and anyone could walk in leaving Alex to feel anxiety run through his blood like liquid fire.

Ben darted out into the hallways and looked around quickly before disappearing somewhere and then returning, a wheelchair dragging behind him, it's wheels squeaking on the tiled white floor.

Alex grimaced and helped Ben maneuver his broken body into the chair. They had to get out of here, it wasn't safe.

Alex's vision was being obstructed by black spots and blurry areas almost beyond belief and his sense were in overload. He began to lose track of where he was, and the motion of the wheelchair had started to make his head feel very heavy.

His leg throbbed, his shoulder throbbed, his chest throbbed, his forehead throbbed and his skull throbbed. He felt broken but suddenly he didn't even know what broken meant.

His thoughts were disappearing slowly in clouds of smoke as a feeling of suffocation, as if heavy fog was drifting over him, covered his every sense.

As they wheeled through the halls of the hospital Alex couldn't breathe.

Antiseptic and medicine smells followed him like his own personal cloud and the air didn't seem to be reaching his lungs. _Damn it Alex, breathe!_

 **To be continued…..**


End file.
